Azerbaijan's chunked counterpart to lyulya: lamb pieces rested in onion, narsharab (pomegranate syrup) or vinegar, then grilled over hardwood coals and served with pickled onion and fresh herbs. 'Tikə' simply means piece.
Also known as: tika kebab, tike kabab, tikya kebab, Azerbaijani shish kebab
Ingredients
- 800 g lamb leg or shoulder, in 4 cm chunks
- 2 onions, in thick rings
- 60 ml narsharab (pomegranate syrup) or 40 ml wine vinegar
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp sumac
- 2 lavash breads
- mixed fresh herbs (tarragon, cilantro, purple basil)
- pickled or raw onion, to serve
How to make it
- 1
Massage the lamb with the onion rings, narsharab and pepper and marinate 6 h in the fridge.
- 2
Wipe the syrup off the surface of each chunk and thread onto wide skewers, pieces touching but not squashed.
- 3
Grill on a mangal over white-ashed coals 10-12 min, turning by the crust, and salting midway.
- 4
Tent the finished skewers under lavash for 4 min.
- 5
Serve with the herb bundle, sumac and onions.
Pro tip: Wipe off the pomegranate syrup before the fire; its sugars blacken in seconds, and the flavour it left inside the meat is the part you want.
The story of Tikə Kebab
Tikə simply means piece, and tikə kebab is Azerbaijan's cubed skewer — the counterpart to minced lyulya on every grill in the country. Where lyulya is judged on technique, tikə is judged on the lamb, and Azerbaijani cooks are correspondingly particular about the animal and the marinade.
It sits at the centre of a grilling culture that Azerbaijan shares with Iran and Turkey but inflects with its own ingredients — narsharab, the reduced pomegranate syrup, above all. The mangal weekend in the countryside outside Baku is a social institution, and tikə is what is on the skewers.
The technique that defines it
The marinade is short and sharp: sliced onion, salt, black pepper, and either vinegar or narsharab, left for a few hours rather than overnight. The acid is doing a specific job — softening the surface of a cut that is not fillet — and it stops being useful and starts being destructive after four or five hours.
Grilling is over hardwood or fruitwood coals, close, with the skewers turned often. Cubes are threaded snugly with a piece of tail fat every few pieces. The target is a hard char on the outside faces while the centre is just past pink, which for three-centimetre cubes is around ten minutes with regular turns.
Choosing your ingredients
Lamb shoulder or leg is the standard; the cut should have fat running through it. Tail fat threaded between the cubes is traditional and functional. Beef is used but changes the dish, and chicken tikə exists as a lighter menu option in Baku restaurants.
Narsharab is the ingredient worth buying properly. It is pomegranate juice reduced to a thick, dark, sour syrup with a savoury depth that pomegranate molasses only approximates. It works both in the marinade and poured over at the table. Onion for the marinade should be sliced, not grated, so it can be lifted off before grilling.
Mistakes that ruin it
Marinating overnight in vinegar
Acid past four or five hours softens the surface into mush. Short and sharp is the rule.
Leaving onion pulp on the meat
It burns on the coals and tastes bitter. Slice the onion so it lifts off cleanly.
No fat between the cubes
Tail fat renders and bastes as it goes. Without it, lean lamb dries.
Cubes cut too large
Beyond about three centimetres the outside is charred before the centre is ready.
How it is served
On lavash with sumac onion, a heavy pour of narsharab, grilled tomatoes and long peppers, and a plate of fresh tarragon, coriander and spring onion. Pickled vegetables and Azerbaijani flatbread complete the table. Black tea from a pear-shaped armudu glass afterwards, with jam rather than sugar.
Questions about Tikə Kebab
What does tikə mean?
Piece, in Azerbaijani. Tikə kebab is simply the cubed-meat skewer, as opposed to minced lyulya.
What is narsharab?
A thick, sour pomegranate syrup used across Azerbaijan both in marinades and poured over grilled meat at the table. It is darker and more savoury than ordinary pomegranate molasses.
How long should tikə kebab marinate?
Three to five hours. Acidic marinades left overnight damage the surface of the meat.
What cut of lamb is used?
Shoulder or leg, with cubes of tail fat threaded between the pieces to baste them as they render.
